TERRIBLE SHIPWRECK.

Pelorus Guardian and Miners' Advocate., Volume I, Issue 13, 7 March 1890, Page 2

TERRIBLE SHIPWRECK.

166 LIVES LOST. HEARTRENDING SCENES. A PASSENGER’S ACCOUNT. Brisbane, March 2.

The British Lidia Steam Navigation Co.’s s.s. Quetta, of 3302 tons register, which was homeward bound, struck on a rock, which is not marked on the chart, near Cooktown, Northern Queensland. She struck with terrible force, splitting completely through. A fearful scene of confusion and despair resulted on board, the passengers rushing wildly about. The vessel sank in three minutes after striking, and numbers of those on board were engulphed. The location of the disaster is near Mount Adolphus and the Two Brothers ! Island. The captain telegraphed that the ship struck at nine o’clock on Saturday night, and there has been an appalling loss of life, only one hundred having been saved. Later.

Terrible excitement prevails concerning the loss of the Quetta. She was a full ship having over one hundred passengers on board, besides 30 European officers and crew, and 95 coloured crew. The passenger list includes a number of well known citizens who were going Home. The ship was valued at £65,000, and was not insured.

The steamer Merrie England has returned to Thursday Island. She searched several islands for survivors, but unsuccessfully. The total number of souls on board was 232, and those saved numbered 116, so that apparently the number drowned is 166. Captain Saunders and Pilot Keating were on the bridge at the time of the casuality. It was bright moonlight, and the weather was fine, the sea being calm, and there was no apparent danger. The ship struck six miles from Adolphus, on her quarter, and ripped her whole side out. Nearly all the passengers were on deck, and a fearful panic ensued. The captain and officers were cool, but in less time than it takes to relate the Quetta sank amidst the cries of the helpless ones aboard. A large number were swallowed in the vortex and never rose again, while others floated and were picked up as quickly as possible. Some may have reached the adjacent islands, but the hope is a remote one. The saved are Miss Nicklin and a baby girl, Messrs Corser, Clarke, Kenton, Slodard, Davidson, Wrathall, Gregory, Cameron, Ashford, Murphy, Train, Dunn, Debney, the captain, officers, quartermasters, 23 Lascars, 25 coloured firemen, 11 saloon boys, three Cingalese deck passengers, and 28 Japanese deck passengers. Pilot Keating and all the saloon ladies except one were drowned. Captain Slator was on the bridge with the pilot when the vessel struck, and he rushed to the end of the saloon deck and told the chief officer to get the boats out. He then rushed forward and found the ship was settling, when he returned to try to get the women into the boats, but found the ship was settling so rapidly that he had just time to climb the rigging and throw himself into the water when the ship’s stern rose completely out of the water, and the vessel heeled over and went down, the whole not occupying not more than three minutes from the time of striking. The captain undressed himself in the water and swam abqut half an hour, when he was picked up by the life boat, which was already full of people, and the water was washing over her gunwales, which were broken. All hands but lour jumped out to try and bale the boat, but owing to the broken state of the gunwale and wash of the sea they did not succeed and they got into the boat again, and reached the land at one o’clock in the morning. He reports: Another life boat reached land before us, and I immediately sent it to search for. survivors, and she returned full, having picked up ah who were visible. The men, after the vessel struck, rushed to the boats and cleared them, and to this is attributable the fact that two boats were saved, otherwise a far greater loss would have occurred. Not a vestige of the vessel remains.

March 3. The awful suddenness with Avliieh the Quetta sunk made it impossible for anyone below to reach the deck, and all the engineers were drowned. The vessel passed the rock .at the rate of'twelve knots per hour. One of the passengers states that he was sitting in front of the hatch with his wife and children when the vessel struck. The captain called all hands aft, but the second steward said all was right, as the vessel had only stopped to anchor. Terrible confusion ensued, especially amongst the women. The coloured portion of the crew were particularly noisy and hnmanageable. The forward hatch was blown several feet into the air by the pressure from below. One life-boat was lowered to

the water’s edge as the vessel was sinking, but, being rushed by the Japanese, she swamped. His wife . jumped off the ship into the sea, and

he followed shortly afterwards with a > child in his arms. He never saw his wife afterwards. When in the water he was held up by a coloured man, and in the struggle lost his child, which was drowned. He next got hold of a boat to which a large number of persons were clinging, and assisted to get her upright when the water was baled out, and all hands, numbeimg

about seventy, jumped in. The land was over three miles from the scene of the wreck. The officers on the bridge threw life-buoys overboard, and all the officers and men did their best. The survivors suffered very much from cold during the night. A sad case in connection with the wreck is that, of Mrs Jackson and two children. Her husband was drowned a few weeks ago in a flood in the Brisbane river, and she and her family were left penniless. She expressed a wish to return to England, and the public subscribed sufficient funds to defray the cost of the passage. It is feared that three of them are lost. A saloon passenger named Gape, who was lost, was on his way home to inherit a fortune of £55,000. He had previously been working as a labourer at Beenleigh for some months for twenty shillings per week. He was refused a passage as the vessel was full, but induced the Shipping Company to give him a berth on payment of £2O over the ordinary fare.

Melbourne, March 3. The news of the Quetta disaster has been received here with profound regret and horror. A Miss Lacey was rescued in a most miraculous manner. She clung to a raft until mid-day on Saturday, when she left it and tried to swim ashore. The current carried her away, and. then she kept floating without support for 24 hours, having been in the water for 36 hours before being rescued.

The reported drowning of Pilot Keating proves to be incorrect. He was among those rescued and states that only a slight shock was felt when the steamer struck, and in about a minute and a half the water was up to the bridge, and the stern was standing up out of the water. The Quetta, he says, appeared to bang in that position half a minute, when she listed to port and sank, sucking him down with her. On reaching the surface again, the pilot, captain and a passenger found an overturned boat, which they paddled with their hands and two oars to the shore. About miles off the shore they picked up four lascars and towed them astern. LATER. Brisbane, March 4. If the bearings of the rock on which the s.s. Quetta struck is correct, the Admiralty chart gives twelve fathoms of water. The rock is right in the track recommended by the Admiralty. Miss Nicklin, one of only two ladies saved, states that they were singing and practising in the concert room when the steamer struck. She went down suddenly at the last moment, leaving nearly 200 people all huddled together in the water, and treading on each other. By the aid of a plank she swam ashore, reaching land next morning. All through the night, she heard people calling for help. She thinks most of the ladies were caught by the awning when the ship sank. The carpenter had a marvellous escape. While attempting to clear a boat he got his leg jammed and went down with the vessel, but the shock with which she struck the bottom set him free, and he floated to the top again. March 6. The position of the steamer Quetta has been accurately buoyed. Forty dead bodies have been recoved from wreck, and have been buried. Of this number only three have been identified.